There’s no doubt that the smartwatch market is expanding fast. Smartphones are today as much a part of the mainstream technology industry as were historically smartphones.
If we talk about Samsung, the company has a widened its portfolio of fitness trackers in its kitty to meet user demands. It has developed the Galaxy Fit series for those who want a fitness tracker under the limit of ₹10K. Something on the lines of Mi Smart Band series or Fitbit Inspire series, Galaxy Watch Active 2 are for those who are looking for creme-da-la-creme of smartwatches and have got a big budget to spare. Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 is for those who want the best of what smartwatches have to offer without splurging too much.
Today, in this article, we are going to do a brief Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 Review, which is the best of what Samsung has offered as far as budget smartwatches are concerned. So, what is so special about the latest smartwatch? Well, it has got the looks, it has also got the features, it has its unique design and it is easy on the pockets, which in our opinion is a fairly rare combination.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 Review
Here is the detailed review of Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2
Design and build
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 now comes in 40mm and larger 44mm variants. Both have with that round watch face and the new touch control bezel. You need to run your finger around the edge and the haptic feedback gives a feel as though it’s clicking like a real wheel. It is a very well designed and easy to use interface. And you can easily uncheck the bezel if you’re not a fan.
The aluminium metal finish is far more premium than the original model making this a stand out design, even when paired with the fitness-friendly synthetic rubber strap. Or go plusher with the stainless steel model that’s paired with a leather band. It should be remembered that the LTE model is only available in a variant of stainless steel.
The display is a 360 x 360 resolution 1.2-inch or 1.4-inch Super AMOLED meaning you get great brightness as well as very powerful colour definition, day or night. The smartwatch is encased in Gorilla Glass DX Plus that should let it withstand more punishment. The watch is also IP68 rated meaning its water-resistant to 50 meters so it’s good to leave on even when swimming.
Display
Talking about the display, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 smartwatch comes with a 1.4-inch AMOLED touch-sensitive display which is a standard in premium Samsung smartphones. It also comes with a resolution of 360×360 pixels and it is safeguarded by Corning Gorilla Glass DX+ protection. The smartwatch has thin rounded bezels that are barely visible especially when you have the dark mode turned on.
Coming to the functionality, you can swipe right to go through all your notifications that you’ve received. You can go through your WhatsApp or Telegram messages, or even check your email or updates to any other app that you have synced in the Samsung Galaxy Watch app. If you swipe top to bottom it will give you access to all the controls, like the display brightness, settings, DND or Do Not Disturb mode, good night mode which turns off the AoD and notifications, AoD or Always on Display and the Bluetooth option to control your connected Bluetooth devices.
The display of the smartwatch is by far one of the most and well-lit displays in a smartwatch that. It is bright, not in a way that will hurt your eyesight, but in that way which is adequately lit be it the night light or under bright sunlight. You can easily go through all the details without straining your eyes. As far as the touch sensitivity is concerned it’s also extremely efficient.
Another thing that we loved about this smartwatch is that it comes with customizable watch faces. You can change the display of watch looks and feels by picking a watch face from the Galaxy Watch app according to your wishes.
Performance
Now, looks and display are all good, but what is a smartwatch that does not work well? Well, we are happy to inform you that the Galaxy Watch Active 2 doesn’t disappoint its users in that department. It will run on Samsung’s Tizen OS and it feels slightly cleaner than Google’s Wear OS.
The presence of an LTE variant is the cherry on the top, which means you can turn on the eSIM in the device and forget about keeping your phone around all the time. Now, this LTE-connectivity feature is a privilege reserved only for premium budget smartwatches. This would mean that anything on the lower end of the smartwatch spectrum has to manage with GPS connectivity. This makes it imperative that you should keep your smartphone around.
Specs in depth
Not in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 as you can answer the calls, respond to WhatsApp messages and go on a gruelling workout session without pulling your phone a bit closer. That is if you get the LTE variant on the device. But if you receive the GPS variant or for some reason decide not to activate the eSIM on the device, you can answer your calls, check the messages and workout comfortably, but you need to keep your phone handy.
Coming to working out, the smartwatch is a bit sluggish at times and a bit wonky at others but mostly fine. You should consider it as a smartwatch first and then a fitness tracker. It can be a bit slow in detecting your exercise mode when you suddenly break into a sprint for the starters. The device’s step-count can be a bit wonky, especially when we compare to Samsung’s native health app or the iPhone’s Health app, which somewhat shows similar results.
If we talk about heart-rate measurements and sleep measurements, they are mostly accurate. However, the altimeter can be a bit off sometimes.
Battery life smartphones
Last but not the least, the battery life. The company has managed to create a fully-fledged smartwatch, with GPS which can last a full two days on a charge. This feature puts it ahead of the Apple Watch Series 5. Of course, the battery life varies between models as the 40mm version has a 247mAh battery while the 44mm variant has a larger 340mAh battery.
That’s it! This is our guide on Galaxy Watch Active 2, we hope it was useful for you.
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